Kemp's ridley nests to be relocated

PENSACOLA, Florida (WALA) - The crude crisis is affecting sea turtles and their nests. Wildlife groups in Escambia County, Florida are making sure unborn sea turtles steer clear of the oil.

Officials in Escambia County, Florida are relocating a sea turtle nest. The goal is to keep the baby turtles from being contaminated with oil after they hatch. This is the first sea turtle nest that will be moved from Pensacola Beach.

The turtle species is Kemp's ridley sea turtle, the most endangered Sea Turtle of the four known to this area.

"A determination has been made that based upon the risks of these Sea Turtles being affected by the oil, to minimize that risk and maximize their survival chances, a decision has been made within our agency bases to relocate them to the Atlantic Sea Coast," said Richard Clark, Chief, Science and Resource Management, Gulf Islands National Seashore.

Although they may not know it yet, some sea turtles are headed for a better life, one where they won't have to risk succumbing to oil.

A few weeks ago, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced they would coordinate the plan, which calls for collecting about 70,000 turtle eggs in up to 800 nests buried in the sand across Florida Panhandle and Alabama beaches.

It's never been done on such a massive scale. But doing nothing, experts say, could lead to unprecedented deaths. There are fears the turtles would be coated in oil and poisoned by crude-soaked food.

"This is an extraordinary effort under extraordinary conditions, but if we can save some of the hatchlings, it will be worth it as opposed to losing all of them," said Chuck Underwood of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Egg relocation follows a very specific set of protocols developed by The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation and Commission, and the National Park Service.

"They're taken from the official egg chamber and following a very stringent set of guidelines, they're put in a cooler using the same sand from the which the nest was originally established and then they're transported to a holding facility on the Atlantic Sea Coast," said Clark.

When the eggs hatch, the turtles are released into the Atlantic Ocean. There, they will be out of the oil's way, and have a better chance for survival.

All of the sea turtles that venture into Gulf waters have already suffered because of commercial fishing and habitat loss. Endangered Kemp's ridleys have washed up by the dozens dead along Gulf beaches since the April 20 Deepwater Horizon rig explosion.

While some have been found oiled, it remains unclear how many of them died because of it. Tests are ongoing. The Kemp's ridleys aren't in as immediate of danger because oil hasn't been washing ashore yet in their nesting places in the western Gulf. But some fear those hatchlings also could eventually make it into the crude.

David Godfrey, executive director of the Gainesville, Fla.-based Sea Turtle Conservancy, agrees this plan is the only option to save as many turtles as possible.

He said if left alone, the turtles will soon begin emerging from their nests and heading straight out to sea to feed in masses of oil-soaked seaweed.

Godfrey said he agreed with the strategy and called it a "pretty amazing plan" because conservationists rarely support relocating sea turtle nests. They often push for a change in human behaviors, such as dimming lights along beaches at night to avoid disorienting them.

Turtle eggs cannot be moved until they are 75 percent of the way through gestation, which takes approximately 50 days.

Friday was the first sea turtle relocation for Escambia County, but there will be more. As of Friday, 14 sea turtles have been confirmed on Pensacola Beach.